How do you feel about teachers who get off topic?

Question

Recently, I've heard a lot of people criticizing these kinds of teachers. I, personally, kind of enjoyed it when I was in school so long as I was actually learning the subject as well.

For example, I had a literature teacher in college who connected every point he was trying to make to Star Wars. My peers HATED it and thought it was an annoying waste of time, but I thought it set his class apart from the ten other English classes I took at University. I also feel like I've learned a lot of facts about life and school from teachers who got off topic. Some conversations we had really stuck with me. Like I had a Japanese teacher who went on tangents about cultural differences at points that had nothing to do with learning the language, but they were interesting.

What do you guys think?

? · Accepted Answer

I personally don't mind it, as long as it doesn't happen all the time to the point where the teacher isn't getting through the material and we're stressed come test day.  Some of my favorite teachers have been those who relate what we are learning about to their own experiences.  One of my teachers during our 'vocabulary days' connected each word to something that happened in a movie by making a sentence about it, which was really interesting.  Some of my teachers also have really cool backstories that are definitely not boring to hear about!  I also like when teachers join the students in fun discussions we have.  Before my English class starts, we're always talking about something fascinating or debating something funny, that's usually unrelated to English, but my teacher always enjoys taking part.

? · Answer

teaching is an art,drawing analogies to common artifacts of pop culture  and entertainment,if properly done,can help learning

bluebellbkk · Answer

Like any departure from the curriculum, it depends on how well it's done, and also how often and for how long.
An occasional diversion to another topic can as you say be eye-opening and fruitful, but some teachers allow themselves to get carried away, in which case it becomes a self-indulgence for the teacher, and no help to the students.

Spock (rhp) · Answer

depends on whether the 'off topic' is related material or not.  any knowledge or method taught without context for how it fits into Universe is pretty much useless, imho

my_alias_id · Answer

Looking back, I seem to remember a lot of good class conversations about things that were totally off topic.

My Social Studies teacher was from India.  He said that while wearing a very nice suit, a cow came passing by.  He didn't want to get dirty so he pushed the cow away from him with his foot.  People went nuts and he had to run from a small mob.

Stories like that, their real life experiences, give students insight to the real world.

How do you feel about teachers who get off topic?

5 Answers